Game Thread: Twins vs. White Sox, 7/5/21 @ 6:10pm

[twinssporto]

Good afternoon Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun and excitement! Can our Minnesota Twins win tonight in front of a full stadium? Local media in Minneapolis report that tonight's game is sold out and the stands will be full. Personally I'm glad I'm not going as it's hot as Hades here...game time temperatures will be almost 94 degrees with a heat index near 100. I think I prefer watching tonight's game in a dark bar with a few cold ones lined up.

Happy July 5th by the way! It is the officially observed holiday at least according to my iPhone calendar. Hope most of you had the day off today. I had the day off and didn't do much. Getting ready to grill up some burgers and brats for dinner tonight and listen to the game on WCCO. I like listening to the game on the radio, it's so old school. In case you wanted to know, all my kids along with a few of their significant others are home tonight and they eat literally everything in the house. Four pounds of burger just doesn't seem to go as far as it did...It's time they all get real jobs and help their old man out with the groceries.

Big game tonight! Can the Twins get past the White Sox? Not sure but that's why I'll listen to the game and find out. The lineup tonight is somewhat underwhelming...I'll let you decide. Gotta run now, college kids say we are low on beer. I'll throw them a $20 and tell them to buy a case of Hamms. I'll be drinking the good stuff.

Go Twins!

Tonight's lineups:

TWINS:

1. Luis Arraez, 3B

2. T. Larnach, LF

3. Jorge Polanco, 2B

4. Alex Kirilloff, 1B

5. Max Kepler, RF

6. Miguel Sano, DH

7. Nick Gordon, CF

8. Ben Rortvedt, C

9. A. Simmons, SS

P - Bailey Ober, R

 

WHITE SOX:

1. Tim Anderson, SS

2. Yoan Moncado, 3B

3. Jose Abreu, 1B

4. B. Goodwin, CF

5. Y. Grandal, C

6. Gavin Sheets, DH

7. A. Vaughn, LF

8. Adam Eaton, RF

9. Leury Garcia, 2B

P - Dylan Cease, R

Weather: HOT! HUMID! SWEAT FACTORY!

[twinssporto]

My pick to click tonight is Kirilloff. You can take that to the bank!

[stringer bell]

Well, the two veterans are out for another game. The Twins did well without them yesterday, so maybe they will do well tonight. Obviously, with the season decided, it is important to see the young players. Five rookies--Ober, Rortvedt, Gordon, Kirilloff and Larnach are all playing against the likely division champ. Let's see what happens.

[RickOShea]

Nothing like a hot, steamy night to get the juices flowing.  Time  for a little pay back and a little chin music aria.

[stringer bell]

Early start. Shadows might be an issue. 

[LVTwinsfan]

37 minutes ago, twinssporto said:

My pick to click tonight is Kirilloff. You can take that to the bank!

Pick to click… sounds like a Hawkism

[stringer bell]

I’m going to pick Rortvedt to square up a couple balls and get a double and homer in a low-scoring game. 

[stringer bell]

Impressive two innings from Ober. 

[Game7-91]

1 hour ago, twinssporto said:

Getting ready to grill up some burgers and brats for dinner tonight and listen to the game on WCCO. I like listening to the game on the radio, it's so old school

So true. Nothing quite like sumner nights and radio baseball, even when the Homers are horrid. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Kepler certainly got hold of that one. 

[operation mindcrime]

Way to go Kepler!!!!!!!

[Brock Beauchamp]

I knew Rortvedt wasn’t hitting but never noticed his .380 OPS.

Yikes. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Did we win yet?

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Did we win yet?

The Twins took the lead, which actually gives them a better chance of losing than winning.

(actually, that’s true, look at my latest post in the fun with numbers thread)

[USAFChief]

6 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I knew Rortvedt wasn’t hitting but never noticed his .380 OPS.

Yikes. 

7 hits already.

[stringer bell]

2 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

The Twins took the lead, which actually gives them a better chance of losing than winning.

(actually, that’s true, look at my latest post in the fun with numbers thread)

I’d say that is convoluting the the numbers. They’re barely below .500 when they score first, but that would make them 11-24 when the other team scores first. And one of those two results will occur every time. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I’d say that is convoluting the the numbers. They’re barely below .500 when they score first, but that would make them 11-24 when the other team scores first. And one of those two results will occur every time. 

In the aggregate, the team that scores first wins 65-70% of the time. The fact that the Twins score first in over 50% of their games and still manage to lose over 50% of those games is laughably bad. 

[stringer bell]

Larnach doing better with RISP!

[RickOShea]

Is simmons throwing the ball to first, or is he using a drone?

[stringer bell]

4 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

In the aggregate, the team that scores first wins 65-70% of the time. The fact that the Twins score first in over 50% of their games and still manage to lose over 50% of those games is laughably bad. 

Bad bullpen and inability (somehow) to add on. The Twins have underacheived in just about every respect. It doesn't surprise me that they are below .500 when they score first in a game.

[LA Vikes Fan]

That hurts. 3 straight SOs with a man on third. Ouch. 

[USAFChief]

The Twins add to their lead and still manage to disappoint me.

[bighat]

1 minute ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

That hurts. 3 straight SOs with a man on third. Ouch. 

29 other MLB teams are up 4-0 right now. Simple contact is all they needed. Only the Twins could botch an opportunity like that. 

Gonna come back and bite em, no doubt.

[USAFChief]

5 minutes ago, bighat said:

29 other MLB teams are up 4-0 right now. Simple contact is all they needed. Only the Twins could botch an opportunity like that. 

Gonna come back and bite em, no doubt.

Yes, but in their defense, it's not like it was the 3-4-5 hitters, all with the platoon advantage. 

[Vanimal46]

I see it with Ober. He could be a 4/5 when his command is on. I don’t see it with Jax. Maybe we will see Winder and Sands soon. 

[USAFChief]

3 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I see it with Ober. He could be a 4/5 when his command is on. I don’t see it with Jax. Maybe we will see Winder and Sands soon. 

Concur. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I see it with Ober. He could be a 4/5 when his command is on. I don’t see it with Jax. Maybe we will see Winder and Sands soon. 

I’m *much* more impressed with what I see in Ober than what I see in Jax. 

[Danchat]

6 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I see it with Ober. He could be a 4/5 when his command is on. I don’t see it with Jax. Maybe we will see Winder and Sands soon. 

I think Ober could also be a standout reliever, as he might be able to bump his K/9 rate up even higher (and he already has the highest K rate in the rotation). If they do keep him as a starter, hopefully he can start reaching the 6th inning more often, and into 2022.

Jax is barely a prospect at this point, and the FO knows it, or they would have protected him in the Rule 5 draft in either of the past two years. He's a classic case of "very good minor league track record, but doesn't have the stuff to get MLBers out".

[teachercoach]

Sano w/ leadoff double.  Gordon w/ speed, not power.

Lead 3-0.  Bunt and force defense to defend speed??

[stringer bell]

22 minutes ago, bighat said:

29 other MLB teams are up 4-0 right now. Simple contact is all they needed. Only the Twins could botch an opportunity like that. 

Gonna come back and bite em, no doubt.

I don’t think that’s true. Strikeouts and infield pop ups are common. The Twins’ strikeout numbers are in line with other teams. It’s an epidemic in baseball.